Not content with simply locking away Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, PRC officials have taken two new steps to help people “forget” that he or the prize even exists. The party’s phallanx of internet censors took to their computers to block web sites of foreign news media — including CNN and the BBC — concealing reports of the Peace Prize ceremony being held in Oslo today.

“The Internet is open in China,” said a spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry. I have a feeling she doesn’t get out much. Then again, neither does Liu Xiaobo.

The New York Times also reports that television broadcasts by CNN and BBC have been blacked out during segments that mention the Chinese dissident winning the prize. The foreign ministry has made the absurd claim that the Nobel committee’s decision was “dismissed by the vast majority of countries upholding justice in the world.” By CCP standards, of course, only a handful of countries are “upholding justice” in the first place: namely, North Korea, Russia, Cuba, Burma, and Vietnam. If the majority of them refuse to attend the ceremony, then I suppose she might just be right.

Meanwhile, U.S. Representative Frank Wolf (VA-10)said at a press conference that China “should be embarrassed to be in the company of Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and Burma.” He also applauded the “strong message” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is sending by attending the ceremony (Yay bipartisanship!). The U.S. State Department has repeatedly called for Liu’s release.

The second step taken by the PRC to propagandize this situation has been to announce the surprise winner of the Confucius Peace Prize! The first annual EVER Confucius Peace Price was presented to Lien Chen, a former Taiwanese vice president; and what a tough competition it was! He beat out Bill Gates AND Nelson Mandela! And to think, the PRC is so angry with Norway right now that they’re willing to give an award to someone from Taiwan.

Mr. Lien Chen, however, neither attended the ceremony nor commented on receiving the award. The Taiwanese Council for Mainland Affairs chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan said there would be no comment, “but we do find it amusing.”